Written Answers Wednesday 14 December 2006

Scottish Executive

Alcohol Misuse

Mr John Swinney (North Tayside) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average time is that it takes to consider proposals for local byelaws to ban drinking of alcohol in public spaces.

Cathy Jamieson: The time taken to consider proposals for local byelaws to ban drinking of alcohol in public spaces depends on the content and complexity of the proposed byelaws. If the proposals do not follow a recognised model, scrutiny by the Executive is likely to take longer.

Allotments

Susan Deacon (Edinburgh East and Musselburgh) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it is taking to support gardening and horticultural activities, including the provision of allotments, in towns and cities.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Executive has no direct role in relation to supporting gardening and horticultural activities. We are however taking forward a number of initiatives in areas such as sustainable development, biodiversity, health and physical activity, community involvement and planning for greenspace and open spaces which may involve and support these activities.

British Sign Language

Ms Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking on the recommendations in Health and Community Care Research Programme Research Findings No.50/2006: Community Care and Mental Health Services for Adults with Sensory Impairment in Scotland, particularly in respect of (a) the need to increase the number of qualified British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters, (b) BSL and deaf-awareness training for GPs, nurses and counsellors, (c) statutory services to provide interpreters for GP, hospital and counselling appointments and (d) raising awareness among hearing-impaired people of the mental health system and services available.

Lewis Macdonald: Through the Sensory Impairment Action Plan, from which the research flows, changes are being made to how services are delivered, and statutory guidance will issue shortly to local authorities inviting them to implement these.

  Working in partnership with key stakeholders funding has been made available to support the First Minister’s commitment to double the number of BSL/English interpreters. In addition to the development of the Graduate Diploma in Teaching BSL, the Executive is recruiting a specialist project manager to explore ways in which numbers can be increased.

  During 2006, 25 health care staff and 28 deaf people undertook awareness raising training developed and accredited by the Council for the Advancement for Communication with Deaf People (CACDP) under the direction of NHS Education for Scotland and the Scottish Council on Deafness. The course equipped them to deliver a Communication Tactics with Deaf People course for another 312 NHS staff. The project has resulted in a training infrastructure being established in 13 out of 19 health boards (including special health boards) and the University of Dundee Clinical Skills Centre. The onus is now on boards to maintain the infrastructure and training provision.

  Guidance published last year (Bib. number 38922) informed approaches for improved access to mainstream and specialist services for those with sensory loss and a mental health condition.

Census

Stewart Stevenson (Banff and Buchan) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the population lives in a rural area, broken down by local authority area and parliamentary constituency.

George Lyon: Information on the proportion of the population living in a rural area, for local authority area and parliamentary constituency, is available in tables 1 and 5 in the Scottish Executive Urban Rural Classification 2004-2006 publication. This is available from the Scottish Executive website through the following link http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/07/31114822/5 .

Education

Mr Frank McAveety (Glasgow Shettleston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what initiatives have been taken to tackle truancy in schools.

Robert Brown: The Scottish Executive supports a range of initiatives to tackle truancy in schools, including automated call systems and home-school link staff, and has recently issued draft guidance Engaged and Involved which provides advice to authorities and schools on promoting attendance.

Ferry Services

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Transport will explore the suggestion by the Deputy Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform, reported in the Press and Journal on 21 November 2006, that "the air discount scheme is a model which needs to be examined further in the context of ferry fares"; whether the Executive is investigating the application of a similar discount scheme to any of Scotland’s ferry routes, and how such a scheme could be implemented, in light of the answer to question S2W-23204 by Tavish Scott on 7 March 2006 indicating that under the European Union state aid rules "aid of a social character" cannot be combined with other types of aid or assistance and of the list of exclusions from the air discount scheme included in the Executive’s press release of 13 February 2006 which indicate that current public service obligation routes are excluded on the grounds that European regulation does not allow multiple forms of aid on one route.

Tavish Scott: Once the tendering of the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services has been completed, the Executive will be commissioning a review of the fares structure that applies to the Clyde and Hebrides routes. We will report further on these matters in due course.

Ferry Services

Trish Godman (West Renfrewshire) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects that an announcement will be made anent an order for the construction of a passenger ferry for Caledonian MacBrayne.

Tavish Scott: There are currently two vessels being completed for the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services. These are the MV Loch Shira (to be deployed on the Largs to Cumbrae route) and the MV Argyle (to be deployed on the Wemyss Bay to Rothesay route). Both vessels are expected to come into service in the Spring of 2007. They will be owned by the new vessel owning company, Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL), and leased to the operator of the Clyde and Hebrides ferry services, currently CalMac Ferries Ltd. These two vessels will bring the number of vessels brought into service since 2000 to seven, representing some £58 million of investment. In future, CMAL will be responsible for the procurement of new vessels. It is likely that an announcement will be made shortly on future vessel investment plans.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the daily costs were of providing food and beverages to patients in each hospital in each year since 1999.

Mr Andy Kerr: The daily costs for catering services by hospital in the years ended 31 March 1999 to 2006 is given in NHS Scotland Catering Costs 1999-2006 which is available in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 41229). For years 1999 to 2003, data refers to catering expenditure specifically for patients. However, in 2003-04 the information collected was expanded to include the provision of meals for staff, net of any income generated from charging for those meals

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what its timetable will be for implementing the recommendations in the Audit Scotland report, Catering for Patients .

Mr Andy Kerr: The Audit Scotland report indicated that over the past three years NHS boards have improved the level of choice in the food given to patients. NHS boards have reduced the amount of food wasted and have better information to help them control their costs. However, the report also acknowledged that more needed to be done to ensure the meals provided in hospitals are nutritionally balanced. The Scottish Executive will support boards in making further progress.

  Under the Partnership Agreement Scottish ministers are committed to ensuring adequate nutritional standards for food served in hospitals in Scotland. Work is currently underway with the Food Standards Agency Scotland (FSAS) to develop catering standards covering all aspects of menus, food provision and procurement for hospital meals as well as staff and visitor catering services. This will support the NHS Quality Improvement Scotland standards for food, fluid and nutrition. The Scottish Executive have appointed a Food and Nutrition Advisor from within the NHS to work with the FSAS and other partners on these standards and specifications, and to develop guidelines on their implementation. We aim to publish these standards during 2007.

  NHS Quality Improvement Scotland published a national overview of performance against its food, fluid and nutritional care standards in August 2006. This recommends that to achieve the next level of performance against the standards for food, fluid and nutritional care, NHS boards must develop an action plan that introduces procedures for nutritional assessment, screening and care planning by 2007, with a view to completing implementation by 2009.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive when the catering and nutrition specifications for the NHS will be published.

Mr Andy Kerr: We aim to publish standards in 2007 for food served in hospitals in Scotland. They will address matters such as minimum meal provision, between meal snacks, composition of manufactured products and portion sizes.

  Clinical Standards for food, fluid and nutritional care are already in place in all hospitals in Scotland. The standards cover a wide range of areas, including the planning and delivery of food and fluid. They also state that there should be a protocol on the ward to ensure that meals are delivered to the correct patients, at the correct temperature and that there should be an adequate number of staff available at mealtimes to provide assistance to patients who have difficulty eating or drinking.

  Health boards’ performance against these standards is being monitored by NHS Quality Improvement Scotland who published a report in August 2006 which noted that while some boards had made progress in implementing these standards, none had implemented them fully.

  The standards to be published in 2007 will support the clinical standards. They will cover all aspects of menus, food provision and procurement for hospital meals and staff and visitor catering services. We have appointed a Food and Nutrition Advisor from within the NHS to work with the Food Standards Agency Scotland and many other partners on these standards to develop guidelines on their implementation.

Health

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what resources it intends to allocate to increase the amount spent on NHS patients’ food and beverages from an average of £2.34 per patient per day.

Mr Andy Kerr: The allocation of resources for NHS patients’ food and beverages is a matter for individual health boards to consider. The Scottish Executive is currently considering its response to the recent Audit Scotland report Catering for Patients and the recommendations made. For further information on the steps we are taking to improve catering quality and standards, I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30247 on 14 December 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at:

  http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Health

Ms Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are plans to collect figures on Crohn’s disease by NHS board and, if so, when such plans will be implemented and, if not, whether it will consider introducing such plans in order that accurate figures can be collected about Crohn’s disease sufferers.

Mr Andy Kerr: The Information Services Division (ISD) of NHS National Services Scotland collects figures on Crohn’s disease by NHS board, broken down by age and gender. The data relate to people who have been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-30091 on 4 December 2006 which gives such information from 1999 onwards.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Health

Ms Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how much has been spent on the treatment of Crohn’s disease and colitis in each year since 1999, broken down by NHS board.

Mr Andy Kerr: The information requested is not held centrally.

Justice

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it is taking to reduce the number of incidents involving the misuse of airguns in the Grampian Police area.

Cathy Jamieson: I have worked closely with UK ministers to strengthen the law, including the introduction of a new offence of possessing an air weapon in a public place without reasonable cause and banning the import and sale of certain weapons.

  Next year the Violent Crime Reduction Act will increase the age for owning an air weapon to 18 years; purchase will be restricted to outlets run by Registered Firearms Dealers only, and a new offence of indiscriminate and reckless firing of an airgun from private premises will be created.

Justice

Mrs Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it will take to modernise the civil courts.

Johann Lamont: As announced on 20 April this year, we are in discussion with the senior judiciary with a view to setting up a judicially led review of the civil courts. We hope to make a further announcement shortly.

Multiple Sclerosis

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects the development and implementation throughout the NHS of standards of care for people affected by neurological conditions, including multiple sclerosis, which were approved on 2 February 2006, to be completed.

Mr Andy Kerr: In February 2006, the board of NHS Quality Improvement Scotland approved the recommendations in the report of the Neurological Services Pre-scoping Steering Group. The report itself was published in April 2006.

  NHS Quality Improvement Scotland expects to begin work on the development of its standards for neurological services early in 2007, with draft standards being available for consultation in the autumn of next year.

Population

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many, and what percentage of, 16 to 24-year-olds moved from each Highlands and Islands parliamentary constituency in each of the last 10 years.

George Lyon: The information is only available from the replies to the question in the 2001 Census "What was your usual address one year ago?". The data are shown in the following table:

  

 Parliamentary Constituency
 Census 2001 Population
 Census Outflow 2000-011
 Percentage


 Argyll and Bute
 5,006
 512
 10.2


 Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
 4,797
 470
 9.8


 Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber
 8,060
 908
 11.3


 Moray
 7,578
 676
 8.9


 Orkney Islands
 1,635
 162
 9.9


 Ross, Skye and Inverness West
 6,487
 667
 10.3


 Shetland Islands
 2,186
 183
 8.4


 Western Isles
 2,250
 278
 12.4



  Note: 1. Number of people resident in other parts of the UK on Census night, who had lived in the Highlands and Islands one year before.

Procurement

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to review its procedures in respect of the procurement of public contracts.

Mr Tom McCabe: The Executive monitors its procurement procedures to ensure they are consistent with legislation and good practice. We are implementing the recommendations of John McClelland’s Review of Public Procurement in Scotland, published earlier this year. This is an ambitious programme which will deliver benefits across the whole of the Scottish public sector.

Rail Network

Sarah Boyack (Edinburgh Central) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the timescale is for the redevelopment of Haymarket Station to enable improved access for all passengers.

Tavish Scott: We are working with Edinburgh City Council on a feasibility study to look at options for the redevelopment of Haymarket into a major transport interchange. This is due to be completed in summer 2007. The preferred option, which emerges from the study, will then be considered by Transport Scotland’s strategic projects review.

Transport Scotland

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what Transport Scotland’s annual budget is for employing workers on a consultancy basis.

Tavish Scott: Transport Scotland has an Agency Administration Budget of £14.4 million for 2006-07 financial year, this budget will finance the running costs of the new Executive agency. This budget is for all costs associated with staff, building costs and other administration costs.

  Consultant costs associated with individual projects are allocated to each of these projects as per HM Treasury guidance on costs associated with front line delivery of programmes.

Voluntary Organisations

Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is satisfied that Long Term Conditions Alliance Scotland fulfils its remit to represent individuals with the full range of long-term conditions and the small voluntary groups that support them.

Mr Andy Kerr: The alliance was launched in May 2006 and already has links to around 150 organisations. These cover a wide range of interests including voluntary bodies of various sizes and I would always be happy to hear if other organisations might become involved.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Scottish Parliament Staff

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body what formal and informal channels exist for the sharing of legal information and advice between the Office of the Solicitor to the Scottish Executive and the Parliament’s Directorate of Legal Services.

George Reid: : The member is referred to my answers to the related questions S2W-30290, S2W-30291 and S2W-30292.

  As members of the GLSS, staff in the Parliament’s Directorate of Legal Services (DLS) and in the Office of the Solicitor to the Scottish Executive (OSSE) have access to common GLSS support services including training, library facilities (the Solicitors’ Legal Information Centre) which include a legal update service, an intranet and arrangements for the allocation and interchange of staff. DLS staff do not have access to the OSSE Intranet or to legal advice provided by OSSE for its clients or to correspondence between OSSE and the Scottish Law Officers. Similarly, staff in OSSE do not have access to the Parliament’s intranet or to legal advice provided by DLS to Committees, the SPCB or the Presiding Officer.

  In relation to Executive Bills, one of the papers sent on a confidential basis to certain Parliament staff is a note of the Executive’s view on legislative competence, which is made available to DLS. There is no reciprocal arrangement for DLS advice to be shared with OSSE. Information on this pre-introduction process is available in the Parliament’s guidance on public bills on the Parliament website.

Scottish Parliament Staff

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body whether, in the absence of access for individual MSPs to advice provided to the Presiding Officer by the Parliament’s Directorate of Legal Services in relation to matters of legislative competence, the SPCB considers that sufficient provision is made to allow MSPs to meet the requirement in the Code of Conduct for Members of the Scottish Parliament that they consider issues on their merits when they are asked to consider the legislative competence of Bills.

George Reid: The Presiding Officer’s statement on legislative competence is required under the Scotland Act. The SPCB makes provision for the Presiding Officer to have appropriate advice and assistance in discharging this legislative duty. Although the Parliament’s Standing Orders make provision about the statement of competence by a member in charge of an Executive Bill (a requirement under the Scotland Act), they place no requirement on a member in charge of a non-Executive Bill to make a statement on legislative competence. There is no duty on such a member to make such an assessment. However, the SPCB ensures that members of the Parliament have the support of clerks and lawyers in the development of committee and members’ bills through the Non-Executive Bills Unit, and that committees have access to clerkly and legal advice in their consideration of issues as they arise whether in connection with legislation or procedural matters. In short, while not being complacent, the SPCB considers that it makes available considerable in-house resources to assist members address their legislative responsibilities.

Scottish Parliament Staff

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many legally qualified staff are employed in the Parliament’s Directorate of Legal Services and how many of those staff are on secondment from (a) the Scottish Executive and (b) other organisations.

Mr Adam Ingram (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body how many legally qualified members of staff in the Parliament’s Directorate of Legal Services were formerly employed by the Scottish Executive.

George Reid: There are 13 legally qualified staff in the Parliament’s Directorate of Legal Services. As with all other Parliamentary staff, staff in the Directorate of Legal Services are responsible through the Clerk/Chief Executive to the SPCB.

  The legally qualified staff in the directorate are all members of the Government Legal Service for Scotland (GLSS). The GLSS exists in order to raise awareness of the roles of lawyers in government, to promote contacts, share information and develop skills and knowledge among lawyers in its member offices, and to provide shared services to member offices and their legal staff. In addition to the Parliament’s Directorate of Legal Services, the GLSS has a number of other member offices including the Scottish Law Commission, the Office of the Solicitor to the Scottish Executive and the Office of the Solicitor to the Advocate General.

  Legal staff employed by one GLSS member office may be seconded or loaned to another member office. This allows staff employed by the Scottish Executive to be seconded or loaned to for example the Parliament. All legally qualified staff in the Directorate are currently seconded from the Scottish Executive to the Parliament under an agreement between the SPCB and the Scottish Law Officers. While seconded or loaned, legal staff are managed and professional supervision is exercised by the office in which they are posted and they owe their professional duties to that office. The arrangements ensure good use of public funds without jeopardising independence of view.

  From time to time the directorate has staff on secondment from other organisations but there are none currently.